A United Nations human rights office report released on Tuesday found that more than 36,000 Palestinians were forcibly displaced in the West Bank over a 12-month period ending Oct. 31, 2025. The report attributes the displacement to an acceleration of settlement expansion and related violence tied to those settlements.
The U.N. said its findings draw on monitoring carried out by its regional office, along with information gathered from government sources and non-governmental organizations. The document states that Israel has intensified the annexation of large swaths of the West Bank, including parts of East Jerusalem, during the reporting period.
Official responses and credibility concerns
Israel's permanent mission in Geneva, where the U.N. human rights office is based, said it is preparing a response to the report. The mission has dismissed previous reports concerning Israeli actions and stated last month that the U.N. human rights office had lost credibility.
Scale of settlements and population context
The report notes the West Bank is home to some 2.7 million Palestinians and observes that successive Israeli governments have rapidly expanded settlements, fragmenting territory envisioned by many as central to a future Palestinian state alongside Israel. More than half a million Israeli settlers now live in the West Bank. The Israeli government disputes the view that its settlements are unlawful, citing biblical and historical ties to the land.
Rising violence by settlers
The U.N. document reports a sharp increase in violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians since the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023. It records 1,732 settler attack incidents in the reporting period, up from 1,400 in the previous period. The report characterizes settler violence as continuing in "a coordinated, strategic and largely unchallenged manner," and asserts that Israeli authorities often enabled or participated in the attacks.
Findings on displacement and legal concerns
The report links the scale and pattern of displacement in the West Bank - which coincides with extensive displacement in Gaza - to actions that suggest a concerted policy of mass forcible transfer. It states this could amount to "ethnic cleansing," a concern echoed in a report issued last month.
The U.N. findings, as presented, document the intersection of settlement expansion, settler-led violence and official responses or inaction. The report leaves open how those documented trends will be addressed by concerned parties and notes that Israel's mission in Geneva is preparing its reply.